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I want to say to the western woman that the Muslim woman is like her, like any woman, in her family and her community, her work and life. All religions in the end call us to the ideal, to respect family, society and work, to moral behaviour, the spiritual life; they are all one even if they have different paths. And I hope western women will learn more and more about Muslim women – that they will know educated Muslim women, doctors, lawyers, teachers, workers – we’re all the same, there’s no difference. A secondary teacher
I say to women in the west, read about Islam and you will find that Islam is a heavenly religion, and in it is mercy and forgiveness. Islam respects the woman and gives her the most rights and Islam made the work of the man and of the woman equal, having the same rewards, punishments and requirements. Islam asks the woman to be active, hard-working, educated and a preacher, and also asks the same of the man. And Islam, if it has made some things easier for women, it’s not because she is lacking or of less ability, but it is easier on her because she has additional duties to the man - the man doesn’t become pregnant or give birth, breastfeed or stay up late at night for the child. Mosque teacher
I hope that western women will understand Islam not from Muslims or from non-Muslims, but will understand from Islam; because Muslims are human and do wrong. And just as every Christian doesn’t exemplify Christianity and just as Bush doesn’t give the picture of Christianity as forgiving and love and mercy, and Sharon doesn’t show the true Jew, so not every Muslim shows Islam as it is. I hope that we will study Islam from its first source, the Qur’an and the Sunna. Mosque teacher
Body • En-clothed
Women’s Worlds • Family health • Children’s success • Marriages negotiated • Rites of passage
Purity Contact with anything that has crossed body boundaries (whether solid, fluid or air), or becoming unconscious or asleep and therefore unaware of possible body boundary crossing, makes the person in an unclean state and needing to do ablutions before praying: whereas menstrual and after-birth bleeding, intercourse and what one writer coyly describes as “emission of certain fluids from the private parts,” require a full washing.
Obligatory الفرض Recommended السنة Optional النافلة صلاة - Salat : Formal PrayerRegulations ofPurity and Modesty
Menstruation and (not) salat or fasting • Now fasting and salat are tiring and exhausting and the woman during her monthly period loses a lot of her blood and her time, and fasting becomes extra exhausting and even salat, and so she isn’t ready to pray • and the blood which issues from her is unclean, but this matter is to do with worshipping God, so during her menstruation she doesn’t pray.
Being polluted over and over again is part of having a body. Thus, defilement is unintentional and inevitable. Almost every person will be in a state of defilement for some period of each day.
Dhikr and Du‘a’ • More access to God • Emotions
Access to God • Less restrictions in purity and modesty • Access to God’s power in their everyday / everynight lives • Emotional expression of their faith
Tarawih prayers It is about tears and reverence. God comes down to the first heaven and answers prayers. It’s a retreat, you and God alone. You feel as if you’re flying, pray until tears come, it’s a strange feeling, tears come suddenly. You pray to God, feel with everyone, love everyone, feel soft, forget worries - what I feel at night, I try to follow in the day - as I am able.
